The first rally towel, to be used in Major League Baseball (MLB) was the Homer Hanky (a handkerchief printed with the Twins logo) of the Minnesota Twins. It gained popularity throughout the 1987 pennant race as a promotional item created by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The Twins would later go on to win the 1987 World Series. The Homer Hanky has been present in every Twins playoff run since, including during the Twins victory in the 1991 World Series.
During the 2010 MLB postseason, five of the eight teams in the playoffs had rally towels. The two teams in the 2010 World Series, the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers, both had rally towels. The Giants had orange "rally rags", but only for Game 2, while the Rangers used red, white, and blue rally towels for Games 3, 4, and 5, all of the home games in Arlington. This was the first World Series that both teams had rally towels since the 2006 World Series.
In 2016, Major League Baseball added a rule (nicknamed the "Homer Hanky Rule") specifying that "in-stadium rally towels" may not be white in color due to potential hitter confusion. As a result, all rally towels and since 2016 have been in alternate colors, including the Twins' own 2019 Homer Hanky, which took the form of a small red terrycloth towel.
In baseball, the teams that use rally towels that are common to hand out besides the Twins are usually the Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals. The Toronto Blue Jays hand out rally towels as part of their "Fan Fridays" promotion, inaugurated in 2010. Along with the Giants and Rangers, the Cincinnati Reds also started in 2010.
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The Terrible Towel
RandomThe Terrible Towel is a big part of the Steelers. In this book we talk all about the terrible towel and who made it.
